The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors having ground shields.
Some electrical systems include a receptacle connector that mates with a header connector to establish an electrical connection between two circuit boards. The receptacle connector may include a housing that holds a plurality of contact modules. Each contact module includes a leadframe having signal contacts that mate with corresponding signal contacts of the header connector. At least some known receptacle connectors include ground shields that are mounted to the contact modules such that the ground shields extend between the leadframes of adjacent contact modules. The ground shields of receptacle connectors may reduce noise and/or crosstalk generated between the leadframes of neighboring contact modules, which for example may be caused by the relatively high transmission frequency of electrical signals through the receptacle and header connectors.
The ground shields of receptacle connectors typically include a body that is mounted to a side of the corresponding contact module such that the body covers at least a portion of the leadframe of the corresponding contact module. Ground contacts (e.g., a resilient beam and/or the like) extend outward from the body of the ground shield for mating with corresponding ground shields of the header connector. But, gaps between adjacent ground contacts of the ground shield may electrically expose one or more of the signal contacts of the corresponding contact module, which may permit noise and/or crosstalk between the exposed signal contact and one or more signal contacts of a neighboring contact module.
Moreover, some known receptacle connector ground shields include ground contacts that only mate with (i.e., physically contact) the corresponding ground shield of the header connector proximate a base (i.e., proximate an end of the mating zone) of the header connector ground shield when the receptacle and header connectors are fully mated together. But, the tip of the ground shield of the header connector may act as an electrical stub that generates electromagnetic interference (EMI) when the ground contacts of a receptacle connector ground shield only mate with the bases of the corresponding header connector ground shields. Such EMI generated by the stubs of the ground shield of the header connector may interfere with the signal integrity of the receptacle and/or header connectors and may thereby decrease the performance thereof.